Pakistan marked the return of international cricket on home turf by clinching the three-match T20I series against the World XI. The host defeated the World side by thirty-three runs in the final Twenty20 match.
The home side, batting first set a target of 184, Ahmed Shehzad played a brilliant knock but missed his second T20I century when he fell for 89, his sublime innings included eight fours and three sixes. Shehzad along with inform Babar added a 102 run stand together and set the tone for a big total.
The World XI had a massive task ahead of them, but their top order failed to make any significant impact as they were reduced to 67 for 5. Perera and David Miller muscled some big shots and brought down the equation, scoring 32 each, however, the top order collapse woes proved too costly and they managed only 150-8.
This is Pakistan’s first major victory on home soil after a long gap of 9 years (barring the Zimbabwe series 2015). More than the series triumph, they would be delighted to host international games after the infamous terror attacks of 2009. It was a successfully organised series with former Pakistani skippers, Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi, given a grand farewell by PCB.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 183 for 4 in 20 overs (Ahmed Shehzad 89, Babar Azam 48, Thisara Perera 2 for 37) vs World XI 150 for 8 (David Miller 32, Thisara Perera 32, Darren Sammy 24*; Hasan Ali 2 for 27, Usman Mir 1 for 26) by 33 runs.